Various types of pet accessories, such as collars and leashes, have been available for many years for attaching identification to a pet animal or restraining the animal during a walk. A number of different techniques have been utilized in producing these accessories in order to increase the ornamentation, functionality and/or safety of the device. One technique in particular that has been used to increase the safety as well as ornamentation of these devices is illumination.
A number of different types of illuminated dog collars are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,382, issued to Barbera et al., discloses an illuminated pet harness having straps with internal cavities that contain fiber optic cores. A plurality of lenses are provided on a top layer of the straps for projecting light when the fiber optic core is illuminated by a light bulb. U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,106, issued to Tangen, discloses a lighted animal collar that includes a plurality of separate light emitting assemblies or housings at spaced intervals along the collar. Each of the assemblies includes a light emitting diode, battery source, reflectors and a translucent cover. U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,082, issued to Wade, discloses an animal collar that includes illuminating devices such as light emitting diodes, liquid quartz strips or electric lamps. A plurality of solar cells are provided on the outside of the collar for recharging a power supply for the illuminating devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,456, issued to Heyman et al., discloses an illuminated pet collar in which multiple lights are mounted within a flexible, light-permeable tube that extends about the perimeter of the collar. A housing mounted on one end of the tube contains a circuit and a battery for operating the lights. U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,110, issued to LoCascio, discloses a pet collar that includes a light source and a power source attached to a strap. A closure device for the collar acts as a switch, such that power is provided to the light source to illuminate the collar when the ends of the collar are connected by the closure device.
In addition to illuminated pet collars, several types of illuminated pet leashes are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,692, issued to Kuhnsman et al., discloses an illuminated pet leash comprising a non-opaque tube that contains one or more bundles of optical fibers. A light bulb is connected adjacent to the leash handle to shine light into the tube and illuminate the optical fibers in the tube. U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,552, issued to Hayden, discloses an electrically lighted pet leash that is composed of a transparent, flexible tube containing a string of small electric light bulbs mounted in parallel between two insulated wires. The leash is looped at one end to form a choker collar and at a second end to form a handle. The string of lights extends throughout the leash to illuminate both the collar and the handle. A small rechargeable battery is mounted adjacent to the handle for operating the lights.
Along with illuminated leash straps and collars, it is known in the art to illuminate the handle portion of a leash. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,044, issued to Nasser, Jr. et al., discloses illuminating a leash handle with a flashlight. The flashlight is attached to the top portion of the handle, in a forward-facing direction, such that the light beam from the flashlight can be pointed in any desired direction by the hand holding the leash.
While the conventional leashes and collars disclosed in the above patents all include light sources for increasing the visibility of the device at night, they suffer from a number of drawbacks. For instance, while the conventional illuminated collars increase the safety of a pet at night by increasing its visibility, this illumination is limited to the neck of the animal and, thus, does not provide increased visibility for the pet's owner. Moreover, while the conventional illuminated dog leashes do provide this increased visibility for the pet's owner, each of these leashes relies upon incandescent bulbs for illumination, which require a relatively high power level for the amount of light produced, and also generate heat which is undesirable in a pet leash. Further, each of the conventional illuminated leashes is comprised of a transparent tube, rather than a thin strap of material and, thus, is not as flexible as more conventional, non-illuminated leashes.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an illuminated pet leash that increases the visibility of both a pet and its owner, and which includes a flexible, low-power, non-incandescent light source that can be manufactured as part of the leash strap or handle, or provided as an attachment for an existing leash strap or handle.